Maintaining a website can be hard work. I can say that with authority, having run my online news portal The Daily Grail for eight years now, with almost daily updates. And, in the past, it was generally a gig which was done purely out of love. If you wanted a little income from the website, you had to go out of your way to find a sponsor who might put a banner ad on your site. However, in recent years that job has become a whole lot easier, with the introduction of Google Adsense (and a few similar programs by other companies, although I'll concentrate here on Adsense).
With Adsense, putting some advertising on your site is as easy as signing up for an account, and then pasting some already-generated code into your website's HTML. This code can also be easily customised to make the ads blend into your website - such as setting the same colours (background, links etc) which you have. And the great beauty of Adsense is that the ads are served on the basis of the content you have on your page, and also on the individual location of each reader - so in most cases, advertisements on your page are topical, and not as intrusive as former advertising methods.
As of this writing, Adsense offers text, image and video advertisements - each time someone clicks on an ad, following it to the advertised link, you make some money (though some ads work on a 'per thousand views' basis, rather than click-through). There are also 'link boxes' which can be put on your page, and although you don't get paid when someone clicks on the first link (which goes to a 'topic' page offered by Google), you do get paid when any of the links on that page are clicked. And lastly, there are also Google referral buttons, which earn you money when someone clicks through to sign up for the program.
How much can you make? It depends largely on the topics your site discusses, and on the amount of traffic you get. Ad placements are 'auctioned' by Google, so less commercially competitive topics earn less money per click, while high earning topics will obviously provide higher income. Google do not disclose the price of certain keywords, but Yahoo does offer a tool for keyword prices in their own program, so try using it to get an idea (update: the US version has disappeared, though other countries are still available - see here). As I mentioned though, you also need the traffic - so make sure your website has features or resources which are attractive to readers.
There are some pretty simple dos and don'ts which you should be aware of before starting out with Adsense.
Do's...
- Make your ads blend into your site. People have learnt to ignore things that look like ads. So blend the colors to match your website. And remove the border by making it the same color as your website's background.
- Use 'channels' for tracking different ad placements - that way you can see what works best on your site.
- Respect your readers and make the ads incidental - keep the content as the main focus of your website.
- While focusing on content, be aware of the better earning keywords associated with it, and format your website accordingly.
- Take steps to increase your readership. The more readers, the more clicks. Pursue (legal) search engine optimization strategies, and try to spread word to others who might be interested in your content. Going back to the previous point though - if you create good content, these things will likely happen automatically.
- Keep up with the latest developments at the official Google Adsense Blog.
Don'ts...
- Do not click on your own ads, or tell anyone else to click your ads! It's prohibited in the Terms of Service, could get your account cancelled, and more importantly, in the long run it just lowers everyone's earnings as advertisers drop out of the program.
- Don't be afraid to experiment with ad placements. Case studies have shown that moving and modifying ads is the best way to find the ideal setup for your website - and can boost your earnings significantly.
- Don't create a website just for ad earnings. It takes enthusiasm and dedication to regularly update a website, so make sure it's a fun project firstly, and worry about advertising revenue after that.
You can learn more about the program, including optimization tips, at the Google Adsense Help Center.